I found myself with a ridiculous amount of roast chicken leftover from Sunday's dinner and I hate to waste food. So I threw it in a blender along with a handful of spinach, olive oil, ricotta, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. I didn't measure, just eyeballed the whole thing. But the result was incredibly velvety and just perfect to fill raviolis or tortellinis. With two munchkins at home, I strive to make things I can freeze and have available for a quick yummy dinner. This

In my continued quest to expand my pasta shape rolodex, I discovered this fun shape. The rustic shell. Not sure what the technical Italian name is, but I made it while playing around with my gnocchi paddle. I also managed to somehow intrigue my son enough to want to help me. And really, anytime I can get my kids to actually participate in making dinner, I seize the moment. For this recipe all you need is a good homemade pasta recipe and a gnocchi paddle. Quite simply, you tak

There are many pasta shapes that we no longer see because, well, very few make their pasta from scratch anymore. With so many places selling pre-made fresh pasta, why would anyone want to spend time making it. Well, I do. There is something cathartic about spending time at my kitchen counter making fun shapes. So I started to do some research after growing bored of making the same old shapes, linguini, spaghetti, ravioli and parppardelle. I poured myself a glass of red wine a

Many would argue that one of the highlights of Fall is fashion week...but us Gourmands would say absolutely not. The best part of Fall is the arrival of Black Truffles! And with that comes incredible upgrades like try adding some slices of black truffles to your morning scrambled eggs! Mind blowingly delicious. But I pay homage to these black beauties by making a gorgeous dish I had a few years ago in Montepulciano: Fettucini Al Tartufo. Or Black Truffle Fettucini. The simpli

I recently found these unique mushrooms at my mushroom lady's stand at the farmers Market. They are called Lobster Mushrooms and according to her they smell and taste just like lobster. The smell yes...but did they test like lobster and could they replace lobster in a dish? I found out that they could potentially substitute but the flavor would be extremely delicate. So in this dish I did add some real lobster, but just one lobster for 5 servings. The mushrooms were the star.

I found myself with a lot of leftovers this week. I had made an eggplant/zucchini dish with tomato sauce which was a hit. But funny enough not such a hit that my family wanted to pull it from the fridge and eat it again and again throughout the week. So I decided to get creative as I hate wasting food. Above you will find my leftovers and next to it some pasta dough I whipped up in my food processor. Of course you can use store bought sheets of pasta but it's so easy to make

This is a great recipe if you have only 15 minutes to prepare dinner and have some Entire Vegetable Garden Pasta Sauce leftover (or frozen). If you don’t please see substitute area. Turkey Stroganoff: 2 tablespoons organic ground turkey (preferably thigh meat) 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/4 cup Entire Vegetable Garden Pasta Sauce 1-2 tablespoon organic whole milk (or 1 teaspoon heavy organic cream) 2 tablespoons Rice cereal In a pan heat oil. Once hot, add the ground turkey. Usin

This spaghetti sauce is wonderful for infants, children and adults who don’t eat enough veggies. It’s a delicious sauce and can be served on anything from pasta to chicken. You could even add ground meat/poultry to it and turn it into a bolognese. Entire Vegetable Garden Pasta Sauce: 1 garlic clove 1 small onion 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil ! cup Broccoli 1/2 cup Cauliflower 1/2 cup green beans 1/2- 1 cup zucchini 1/2 cup celery 1/2 cup carrots 1/4 cup peas 1/4 cup sp